Catcher Jeremy Dowdy swings to hit the ball during Saturday's game of a three-game series versus the UNCG Spartans. The Mountaineers won two out of the three games. Photo by Casey Gahagan | The Appalachian.

The Spartans would have none of it.

Lloyd Enzor hit an eighth inning grand slam to help Greensboro pound the Mountaineers, 9-3, Sunday afternoon at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

“I thought we got out of our approach a bit offensively as the game went on,” head coach Chris Pollard said. “We had a good approach through three innings. Then we got out of our approach. We just never could get back in a good rhythm at the plate.”

The Spartans got on the board early in the game, thanks to some erratic pitching from ASU starter Nathan Hyatt.

Hyatt walked two of the first three batters he faced before Ray Quinones knocked in two runs to put UNCG up 2-0 in the first inning.

Appalachian struck back in the bottom of the first. Jeremy Dowdy and David Towarnicky each hit RBI singles to tie the game 2-2.

Greensboro starting pitcher Tyler Hollstegge was removed from the game after two innings of work.

The Mountaineers took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third when Towarnicky came up with his second RBI of the day, smashing a double to deep right-center.

“I’ve been struggling a little bit at the plate the last couple weeks,” Towarnicky said. “I got in the batting cage yesterday with coach Boykin, and I think we fixed a couple little things with my swing. It was good to get a couple hits and help the team out.”

UNCG climbed back on top in the fifth inning. Corey Overholtzer banged a triple off the right field fence and then Enzor pushed a single through the right side to tie the game at 3-3. Enzor scored later in the inning off of a wild pitch by Will Helms.

UNCG pushed its lead to 5-3 in the seventh when Quinones hit a sacrifice fly to bring Ed Jayjack home. Enzor’s grand slam in the eighth finished the scoring for the day.

Enzor led the Spartans on the afternoon, going 2-5 with five RBIs. Colby Hyatt picked up the win, giving up four hits and one earned run over seven innings of relief.

“Give credit to their guy, Hyatt,” Pollard said. “He took us out of our approach a bit. We never like to see a game where we only score three runs.”

Nathan Hyatt took the loss for the Apps, surrendering four earned runs in just 4.2 innings of action. Wes Hobson went 2-4, and Towarnicky went 2-4 with 2 RBIs.

With the win, Greensboro improved its record to 15-21 (3-14 Southern Conference).
The Apps fell to 26-8-1 (9-8-1 SoCon).

“In baseball sometimes, to get where you are its a little bit of a roller coaster,” Pollard said. “I think we’ve been solid, we did a good job taking advantage of this home stand. We’re in a good place to make a run here down the stretch.”

Story: ROB JENKINS, Sports Editor
Photo: CASEY GAHAGAN, Photographer